© Ron Chenoy | 2019 Aug 4
COLORADO – On a getaway day for the Giants, the team was looking end their road trip on a high note with a series vs. the Rockies. But San Francisco dropped their Sunday matinee to Colorado, 6-2, leaving them with a 4-5 record on the road trip, knocking them back to .500 before a crucial home stand at Oracle Park.
After not losing a series since June, the Giants have failed to win two straight.
A rotation that once seemed solid, has seen the young arms struggle of late. That trend continued for Tyler Beede on Sunday, who pitched just 3 and 2/3 innings while giving up five earned runs on eight hits and two walks – raising his ERA to 6.33 over his last three starts.
It didn’t take long for either team’s offense to make some noise.
Another Farhan Zaidi flier made his presence felt Sunday afternoon. Leading off the first inning, Donovan Solano took the second pitch of the ballgame over the left field fence against opposing pitcher Kyle Freeland, making it 1-0. The lead didn’t last long.
Trevor Story, who owned Giants pitching this weekend, hit a two run home run off Tyler Beede after Beede let up a Charlie Blackmon double to start his outing. Story had a home run in all three games. Two batters later, Beede left a slider up in the zone and Nolan Arenado hit a no-doubter beyond the left field fence, extending the Rockies lead to 3-1.
Solano came up big again in the third inning, chipping away at the Rockies lead with another home run to left center – this one traveling 445 feet. Sunday was Solano’s second two home run game of his career.
Colorado tacked on some insurance runs in the third inning. Blackmon lead off with his second double of the game and advanced to third on a wild-pitch. After a walk to Story, Daniel Murphy singled to right scoring Blackmon. Arenado grounded into a double play the next at-bat, but Story still scored on the play, extending the Rockies’ lead 5-2.
Andy Suarez replaced Beede halfway through the fourth and in the fifth before Arenado hit his second home run of the day making it 6-2. The Rockies continued to threaten in the inning but Suarez, a ground ball pitcher, limited the damage by getting Chris Iannetta to end the inning with a double play.
The Giants couldn’t seem to catch a break. Steven Duggar lead off the seventh with a single and Mike Yastrzemski hit a shot down the first base line that had double written all over it, but first-basemen Murphy jumped and snagged it, quickly tagging first for the double play. Joe Panik would ground out to second base to end the inning the following at-bat.
San Francisco’s offense couldn’t quite get things going. Aside from Solano’s two home runs, they were held to just five singles. In his first game off the injured list ,Evan Longoria went 1-4, making solid contact in three of his at bats.
The Giants fell short in Bruce Bochy’s final game at Coors Field. They entered play on Sunday two in a half games behind the second wild-card spot. They now head back to Oracle Park in what looks to be an extremely critical home stand as they take on the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies, who both between San Francisco and the final wild card spot.